off-the-wire

INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares open higher as strong earnings lift mood

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
(Adds opening levels) BENGALURU, April 24 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened higher on Monday as improved quarterly results from heavyweights Reliance Industries Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd eased some concerns over a lacklustre start to the earnings season. The Nifty 50 was up 0.13% at 17,646.90, as of 9:34 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.12%. Seven of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced with high weightage financials rising 0.7%. The rise comes after private lender ICICI Bank posted a 30% jump in
March quarter profit, helped by improved net interest income and loan growth. Analysts termed the earnings "flawless execution" led by robust asset quality. ICICI Bank climbed over 2% on Monday. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company,


reported a 19% jump in fourth-quarter profit, aided by the strong performance in the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) segment, post-market hours on Friday. The stock rose over 1.3% in the early session. The healthy earnings of the two companies, which account for nearly 20% of the total weightage in Nifty 50, could improve the sentiment soured by the weak results and outlook of top information technology companies, analysts added.


Among other stocks, Macrotech Developers Ltd advanced over 3% after posting a 39% year-on-year jump in
profit to 7.44 billion rupees for the quarter ended March.


($1 = 82.0300 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)

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